I don't own anything related to Fate/stay night; this is a work of parody

Prologue: Cold Flame.

Whirpool of fate 2 (music) /3wXmgL-CuY0

"Shirou, wake up!" Mom's voice reverberates through my sleepy head.

My heavy eyelids open. It is light out; I must have really overslept somehow. But, no, that's wrong, It is night, but the world is bright red.

"Shirou! agh, give your hand." I drowsily stretch out my hand and am pulled right out of bed; Someone's coughing.

"Ehhhhhhhh." I moan as I am moved upright in less than a second, too fast, though; I'm light-headed and nearly fall right back into bed.

Mom catches me easily with one hand.

Setting me straight, she holds my hand tight and looks me right in the eyes. "Shirou, we are going to run, okay?" She smiles that smile, the one she has when she wakes me from dreaming or when I got hurt playing in the park once: the fearful one. I despise that smile.

I'm pulled right into the hall before I can respond. It's hard to see, and my eyes water in the thick air.

'Hot.' The hallway is really hot. No- that's wrong-It's hot everywhere.

Can't think, Can't breathe. What is this?

Oh, I see now. There is a fire. It's so clear that I don't know I didn't notice until now.

"Ren! Take Shirou!" My mother yells over the rumbling. She pulls me right up to Dad.

"Katarina's room is-" Dad takes me into his arms; he tries to say something, but Mom interrupts him.

"I will get her. Take Shirou and wait for us outside!" Dad is already taking me through the hall, fire spreading to our sides.

"Vindr!" I hear mom yelling in what can only be described as desperation. I can feel wind carry heat through the house.

It takes less than Six seconds for Dad to run through the burning hall to the door.

Holding me to his shoulder. He burns his hand, opening the smoldering door.

Pushing through the flames, he runs to the street and stops to put out the small fire on his clothes.

Bringing me down to my feet, Dad turns back to the doorway. I can only see his back, but I can tell he is not well.

"Shirou, you're a strong boy now; you're fine alone, right?" I could see now that my father's clothes were tinged black.

I want to tell him to stay, but the smoke is constricting my throat. So I nod.

He pats me on the head and turns back to the smoking mass that is my home.

"Wait right here, Shirou, I'll be right back!"

I hate being alone; my mind always runs in horrible directions. But, I can wait; I can do it. I'll count to ten, and they'll come.

One...two..three..four….five….six….seven….eight...nine…ten. I counted to ten, but no one returned. Only red remained in my vision.

I feel small, like a single piece of rice in a boiling pot.

My eyes are burning because everything is red.

So I shut them and run.

The only thought left is to find somewhere less hot.

So I ran, I don't know how long.

When I looked back, my house was no longer there.

'Ahh, I see, this is my punishment.' I didn't listen, and now it's gone. I had been so dependent, and this is the result.

My eyes hurt.

I cried as I walked.

I had to go back to my house and wait.

But I didn't know where my house was anymore. I was desperate, so I raised my head which I'd kept hidden with my hands until now.

And finally confronted the scene.

The flames dance on every object in sight. The fire writhes as if it were a worm, desperately searching for more to burn.

"Ah-h, guh." I couldn't hold back in pain anymore.

My skin was hurting.

My throat hurt when I breathed in.

My skin cracked by staying alive.

I moved my legs, wanting to escape, but something heavy entangled around my legs like shackles.

I knew that it's the presence of death wanting to take me.

"Hu-h?"

…But it sure was hot

My nails tearing at my throat were discolored.

The air I breathed in stung my burned esophagus.

My eyes abandoned their function, and my brain was being steamed inside my skull.

"Wh-y?"

It's hot.

It's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot, it's hot it's hot it's hot it's hot it's hot it's hot it's hot it's hot…!

"Haa-a."

But It was cold. I was shivering. It had pushed past the boiling point all the way to the freezing point.

The burning blood froze up, and everything in my view was inverted.

Everything was hot.

That's why it was cold.

And still, it was ridiculously hot.

...But.

What was the cause of it? It seemed to be the last thought worth considering before letting go.

A black sun was in the sky.

I didn't find it strange that the sun was up during the night or that the sun was black.

After all, everything was inverted.

So such things are normal.

"AhAhh…!" fear overwhelmed my heart.

I wasn't afraid of the raging fires.

Compared to that black shadow, burning up and dying seemed like a human death.

I knew I'd be taken someplace even worse if that thing caught me. But despite the horror, I did not run.

More than fear, I was mesmerized; a part of me recognized it. Yet, strangely, I could sympathize with it, its loneliness, its desire to come into this world. Had I seen such a thing before?

...thinking was impossible. My body had no energy left for that, so I just acted out of instinct.

I walked towards it, one step, two steps, three steps; I slipped. Looking down, I had fallen right into a puddle. It was a filthy black mud; It was repugnant. But… there is no way I can get up anymore.

My body was there, but the will to live had crumbled. There could be no survival; I was already dead.

So I blankly stared at the sky.

When I saw that it would rain soon, I closed my eyes, and my outstretched hand promptly fell towards the ground.

Tragedy and Fate (Music) /onsWOo2gKh0

"By my third command spell, I order you again…" I project my voice to reiterate the command. Her noble phantasm is already primed to fire.

"Stop!" She shrieks in desperation, but I won't hesitate. My only thought is to end this.

"...Saber, destroy the grail." The last red mark on my right hand disappears, and the golden sword slashes downwards.

Golden light, as bright as the sun but not as invasive, envelopes the room. The grail is destroyed, and the room explodes with debris as dust flies through the air.

Despite myself, My shoulders relax as I can see that the grail is gone. Without adrenaline coursing my body, I feel utterly exhausted. Despite the support of Avalon, I feel downright lethargic.

The swirl of dust calms and clears the air. Both the grail and Saber are gone without a trace.

'It's over then... I'm sorry, saber'. I can at least leave a silent apology to the noble king; we were both duped in the end.

I can take solace in the fact that it is over. All I achieved was preventing a catastrophe of my own making, with the method of destroying my own family.

'Ilya…'

Even for you, I can't abandon my ideal. There are other families in this world, too; they need me, surely.

I look up to gaze at the stars and...

"That's….." my voice breaks; my throat constricts at the scene in front of me.

It is a black swirl, an overpowering presence that promises a horrible death to those that gaze at it.

The corruption is here, despite my efforts. There is a cracking sound somewhere as if to announce my final failure.

A river of black mud pours down from the hole and fills the floor beneath me.

"...Impossible."

It is a stream of pollution bringing all the evils of the world

"There's no way!"

I recall what Natalie told me once about the most dangerous time of an operation: when you've thought you won. That is when you should be most alert.

Maybe if I had listened to Natalie, I could have escaped this, but my body can no longer push itself. I don't think It will be able to ever again.

This is what I was enveloped in earlier, 'if this goes in the city!' my mind is frozen; my brain cannot handle this scene.

The river from the sky stops, but a tsunami of black is already pouring out into the residential area, fire erupts around it.

'The entire area will burn!' It's a sight that makes the weight in my heart feel even heavier.

I can hear the people's voices in my head; they say that this is my fault. They say that I don't save people, only kill them. They tell me that I sacrificed my own family for this.

They are right. That dream… is not something that I will ever achieve, and I have now dragged all these people into my failure.

Have I ever actually saved someone? On the contrary, I have killed countless people, sometimes even innocents, people who did no wrong. Yet whose lives would have caused more death in the end?

I have never directly saved a single person, only killed.

But I still can. That's all I have ever really wanted. To save, to be a hero.

I am running into the fire. I must save them, as many as possible. Fire pricks at me, but my reinforced clothes protect me. I put everything I have left to run.

Where I start are the houses nearest to the black sun, they are gone. I walk farther and farther. I have no energy remaining. I would collapse if not for this dream. I want to save someone, No- I need to.

'there!'

A girl is in the rubble in front of me. I move as quickly as I can, but my speed is akin to a zombie. It's like a weight is pulling me down.

She is covered in soot, but there seem to be no serious burns. She must be alive, 'I can save her!'.

I take the child into my arms. Her black hair in my hands. She needs medical help, help that I can't provide.

"Help!" Please, somebody. I walk with her in my hands, looking for anyone to help or be helped.

"Anyone!, Please!" please just this once, let me save someone.

I scream and scream, but nobody answers; in fact, I know my voice is little compared to the roar of the fire. I scream in an attempt to retain hope; the sliver that remains is what keeps me from falling.

I look to the child in my arms; I can at least save her if anything. But her eyes are dark; they know my crime. She does not breathe. I bring my mouth to hers and bring air to her lungs, but it doesn't work. Her lungs don't work anymore.

Smoke kills you before the fire itself will burn you. I know because it's a method I've used before. I mastered the art of killing with smoke but never learned how to save someone from it.

I can't accept it, though. There must be some way I can do something. I cry like a baby; I beg for help. I hear their condemnation for my crime, not a single life saved.

A child the same age as Illya; her body is so preserved, yet she is dead.

'I'm sorry!' is all I can offer as I leave her body.

There is nothing; Time is meaningless now. I walk and walk until my knee can barely exert themselves anymore.

To be a hero, that is the only thought holding me as one. If I lose that, then I will fade away.

Certainly, there are people, but they are ghouls—shriveled objects that now had more in common with the ash than the living.

I dig, and I dig. I am searching for my salvation. I can survive this if I can just save someone.

I dig up baby shoes.

I dig up ash.

I dig up nothing.

I do not cry for the dead; I cry for myself. I cry more than I have in my entire life.

I see a shape there, a familiar man. But I can tell, it is not one I can save, an upright corpse. So I continue to dig until my mind is on the verge of drifting away.

I walk; behind me lies the weight of death, I could fall and let it end, but I have a mind of steel. There is something I need to do.

I walk on until the world begins to change; light comes from the east. The fire has gone down, but only because there is nothing left to burn.

(Music stop)

I see him then, at that time. My salvation: A red-haired boy, his arm outstretched into the sky, asking to be saved. I rush to him not with the energy of the body but of the soul.

Ever-present feeling (Music) /3L1DEvzsftw

If the wish to stay alive dies, everything disappears.

If you have nothing, all that remains is to die. And I died.

Thinking became difficult, and I closed my eyes. And right as everything was turning black. Someone grabbed my outstretched hand.

My eyes open and see a man with frazzled black hair; he held my hand preciously, smiling an ecstatic smile.

He seemed so happy, as if he, not I, was the one that was saved.

"Thank you..." he tearfully said.

I couldn't help being jealous of how grateful he was.

"Thank you" he held my hand to his cheek.

That was everything to me; there was nothing, so he was everything.

As I fall into a deep sleep, I feel a warmth fill my body, and my will to live return.

Author's notes:

Most of my effort has been thinking up a road map for the future story. In my head, my main goal is to prevent myself from writing into a corner.

I have some ideas, but I am still formalizing the flow of the story.

The next chapter will be an interlude for some other characters. Then it after that will be mostly Shirou's perspective.

I was pretty faithful to the Vn; I compiled all the fire dreams and made a story out of that. Can you spot the one big divergence?

Reviewing is always appreciated!